An average of 75 to 80 million acres of commercial corn is planted annually in the United States. This requires on the order of 25 to 30 million bushels of seed corn to plant the crop. Hybrid seed corn is relatively expensive to develop, grow and harvest, being substantially more in cost per bushel than feed corn. Harvesting of the seed corn traditionally starts with the corn having an approximate physiological maturity of 35% moisture content. The seed is harvested on the ear mechanically and artificially dried in an ear corn dryer by forcing air heated to a temperature on the order of 90.degree.-100.degree. F. for a period of 70-80 hours. This provides ear corn having a moisture content on the order of 121/2%. The ear corn is then passed through shellers which direct the ears between metal cylinders rotated at high speed and metal corrugated grates to remove the kernels from the cob. The metal surfaces cause damage to the seed which is typically a highly refined genotype which has been developed and harvested at great expense.
The time required to dry the corn crop from 35% to 121/2% moisture content is twice as long as the time required to dry from 35% to 25% moisture content, assuming a fixed, constant application of heat for moisture removal. Similarly, the fuel cost to dry the crop from 35% to 121/2% is twice the cost as to dry the crop from 35% to 25% moisture content. It is, of course, highly desireable to reduce the time and amount of fuel required for drying the corn crop to the desired levels of moisture content. If the corn drier could be emptied when the seed corn is 25% moisture content, the drier could then be re-filled permitting the time required for crop harvest to be substantially reduced and perhaps cut in half. In addition, if the kernels could be removed from the high moisture content seed corn prior to the drying process, only the drying of the kernels would be required and drying of the unwanted cob would be avoided. Eliminating the requirement to dry the corn cob would also reduce the cost of the fuel required and the time involved in the drying process.
This invention addresses the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing apparatus for the shelling of high moisture content seed corn which removes the kernels from the cob for drying and not only shortens the drying period, but also reduces the amount of fuel required.